How to clean pump parts

“Think of your milk and pump parts as you would any other kind of food product,” says Dr. Wexler. “Most bacteria can’t grow at refrigerator temperature.” If you have access to running water, rinse off your pump parts (milk build-up can reduce the effectiveness of your pump).

“Although refrigerating used pump parts between uses might be OK if the pump kit is not contaminated, cleaning the pump kit after each use is safest and is particularly important for babies who are younger than two to three months old, were born prematurely, or have weakened immune systems,” Dr. Bowen says.

Avoid going longer than 5-6 hours without pumping during the first few months. When pumping during the night, milk yield tends to be better if you pump when you naturally wake (to go to the bathroom or because your breasts are uncomfortably full) than if you set an alarm to wake for pumping.

When your baby sleeps through the night, you no longer need to remove milk from your breasts during the middle of the night. At this point, baby takes enough volume during daylight hours to maintain adequate weight gain and therefore your body will maintain adequate milk production throughout the day.

Pumping mothers can burn up to 500 extra calories per day. But keep in mind, you’ll need to eat often to replenish calories lost and keep up your energy levels. Eating enough calories and making sure you’re consuming a healthy diet are both important for keeping up your milk supply, too.

Does pumping help your uterus shrink? Yes, similar to breastfeeding, when you pump, the same hormone, oxytocin, releases and causes uterine contractions. It means your uterus is contracting to shrink back to normal size.

When should I pump and dump?